


The Ghost of You

by irismoon



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-27
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-06 09:45:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1105330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irismoon/pseuds/irismoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansa has been freed from the Vale, but Queen Daenerys forces her to return to the Red Keep.  She is forced to deal with the ghosts from her past, and one ghost in particular seems to haunt her more than others.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Badlilmunkee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badlilmunkee/gifts).



> This is my gift for badlilmunkee for the holiday exchange on livejournal. This is my first time ever writing a story for someone, so I hope you enjoy it. This is part 1 of 4 or 5 chapters. I hope to have the rest posted by the end of the December. Have a super happy holiday season :)
> 
> I chose this prompt (1. Ooh! I know... maybe a future fic (post QI/Vale) where for some reason or another, both Sandor and Sansa meet once again (after several years) in Kings Landing? Conjuring up a plethora of memories and unresolved feelings for both- along with lots of deliciously dark and lustful new undertones woven throughout their encounters as they try to reacquaint themselves with one another again.)
> 
> The Ghost of You. 
> 
> Spoilers thru ADWD. / Season 3 of GOT
> 
> no warnings, maybe some future mentions of Littlefinger creepiness, but so far nothing.

Sansa hated the Red Keep. Sometimes during her stay in the Eyrie, she would wake in the night, confused and frightened, before she would hear the reassuring sound of the mountain winds, and remember that she was now safe in the Vale. She would sit up and reach for the old hunting dog sleeping at her feet, taking comfort in his warmth as she hugged him tight. Gradually as the years passed, she had finally began to feel safe isolated high above in her castle in the sky, where the war could no longer touch her. 

She should have known it would not last. Daenerys Targaryen invaded Westeros, and with her came three monstrous dragons. Together they rained fire and blood down upon her enemies and the high treacherous mountains of the Vale no longer offered safety when dragons could fly. 

Upon revealing her true identity, she was spirited away, back to Kings Landing and the dreaded Red Keep to be reunited with her long lost husband and the Queens newly appointed Hand, Tyrion Lannister. At first he had been angry with her for abandoning him after the murder of King Joffrey. After hearing the story of her flight with Lord Baelish he forgave her and wished to give their union a second chance. It was only a few days before he quickly changed his mind, obviously seeing how damaged and broken she was, reluctantly acknowledging the part his family played in her earlier torments, and granted her an annulment.

That is how she found herself back where she began, a ward of the crown. Ward, a gentle word for hostage. She had nothing but her name, Sansa Stark, but despite being able to trace her lineage back thousands of years to the Kings of Winter, the Stark name no longer held the power it once did. Her family was dead or lost, Winterfell was destroyed, and her homeland crippled by the worst winter in memory. The Queen praised her grace and beauty and vowed to find her a noble husband, claiming the suitors would be lining up to ask for her hand, but no one had yet come forward. She knew how they saw her now, she heard the whispers as she attended court. She would forever be the disgraced Hands daughter, traitor to the crown, and now she was simply the Lions leavings, the girl not good enough to stay married to a Lannister, or worse still, a whore of Lord Baelish. She knew the time was coming and dreaded the day when the Queen would simply force a marriage on her, to secure this alliance or to grant a favor on some Lord. The idea alone made her skin crawl.

She found herself most days wandering the halls of the Red Keep, jumping at shadows and hiding from the ghosts of her past. She was suddenly Sansa again, and try as she might, she could never go back to Alayne. They had taken everything away from her again, the same way as before. Even her greatest source of comfort, the hunting dog was gone. A bastard girl could share her bed with an old blind hound, but that was not fitting for a noble lady. Although she had not felt the same connection she had with her direwolf Lady, she had still bonded deeply with the dog, and felt the loss of his presence almost as bad. It seemed she was doomed to have history repeat itself, as she again found herself stripped of everything that made her feel whole, layer by layer.

This day she found herself blissfully alone near the ruins of the Tower of the Hand. She had heard the story of how Cersei had burned it down in a blaze of wildfire. She thought back to the night the Blackwater burned, the green lit sky, the screams of dying men, the smell of smoke and ash on the air. It had been the most terrifying sight she had ever seen, and she could not imagine why Cersei would have wanted to reenact any aspect of that horrifying night. They told her that the queen had been mad with grief at her fathers murder.

"My father was murdered in front of me." she thought bitterly to herself, instantly regretting that her thoughts had brought her back to that horrible day. Earlier that morning she had walked the long way to the dinner hall in order to avoid walking past the grand windows that looked out upon the great statue of Baelor, and thus avoiding the ghost of her father.

She heard footsteps and the rough tongue of the Queens Dothraki men in the distance, so she hurried away. The dark skin warriors intimidated her and she avoided them as much as possible. As she turned a corner quickly she looked up and saw him. The one ghost she did not think herself strong enough to deal with. How could she possibly face him now when she had barely been able to when he was alive. She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him. He stopped as well and looked back at her. If he was surprised to see her, his scarred face did not show it. Suddenly she found it hard to breathe as she met his eyes, unable to look away from him, not even able to blink. She gasped for air, as the world went dark around her, and she fainted.

When she woke, she found herself in her bed, being fussed over by her maid who was sending for the Maester. She asked where the Hound was and how she had gotten back to her rooms, but the girl just looked at her oddly and had no answers for her.


	2. Chapter 2

The day after she fainted she found herself again wandering the halls of the Red Keep, searching for the ghost of the Hound. She went back to the same hallway where she saw him before but of course he was not there. She stared at the burned ruins of the tower of the hand, and forced herself to remember every detail of the last night she saw him. The way his body felt heavy against hers as he pushed her down on the bed. The smell of the sour wine on his breath. The smooth skin of his burn scars beneath her fingers as she touched his cheek. She told herself that remembering the Blackwater battle had been what had summoned him from the beyond, but sadly nothing seemed to make him appear to her again. 

She thought back to when she had been told of his death. He had turned outlaw at the end, destroying Saltpans in a horrible fiery rage. Deep down in her heart she never could bring herself to believe it to be true, for she knew the story of how he had suffered his burns, and she saw the way the fire had frightened him the night the Blackwater burned. Petyr swore to her that it was the truth. He assured her that an old Brother of the Faith had told a story of the Hounds death and was buried somewhere near the Trident. Petyr raised a toast at dinner that night to the death of the rabid Lannister dog. She felt sick to her stomach and quickly excused herself. No one cared whether a bastard girl was there, not when the more important Lords and Ladies of the Vale were present. 

That night, alone in her room she had pulled his old stained Kingsguard cloak out of her trunk and slept with it wrapped around her. She had dreamed that they lived together as man and wife in a beautiful foreign city. He led her by the hand to their bed and wrapped her in his strong arms, holding her so close to his chest she could feel the pounding of his heart. He whispered in her ear repeating some of the last words he had spoken to her. "I could keep you safe. They're all afraid of me. No one would hurt you again or I'd kill them." His rasping voice gave her comfort and made her feel protected thru the dark of night. When she woke in the morning the loss of that dream made her heart ache and she cried for what felt like hours. Finally she pulled herself together and then carefully folded his white cloak and hid it back away in the bottom of her trunk, reminding herself that she was Alayne now, and it was only Sansa that had known the Hound. 

Thinking back made her miss the Eyrie. Although she was relieved to finally be free of Littlefinger and his wandering hands and unwelcome kisses, she had always felt at ease there. Lost in her thoughts, she stopped and looked around finding herself on the Serpentine staircase. Suddenly she knew he was there with her. She did not even have to turn and look at him, she felt his eyes watching her, she had always known when he was watching her. She stopped and leaned her head against the wall, bringing her hand up to touch it, her fingers tracing the patterns in the stone as she simply tried to relax in his presence, taking a few deep breaths and preparing herself before she faced him this time. 

"Do you remember when we were last together on these stairs?" she whispered. When he did not answer she slowly turned and looked down at him where he stood at the bottom. He was standing as still as a statue, dressed in a simple tunic and breeches, his hand resting on a sword hung at his waist. He looked odd without his armor and slightly thinner than she remembered. Despite that, he was still as large and intimidating as ever, perhaps even more so now, without the layers of steel and boiled leather between them. 

"I promised you a song, Florian and Jonquil. I never had a chance to sing for you." He raised his eyebrows slightly at that. "You stole a song, but it was the Mothers Hymn, and not the one I had promised you. I apologize, for I was frightened, and all the words were lost to me at the time." She waited for him to reply but he simply looked away from her, a guilty look on his face. 

"I have thought back to that night a million times, and how I wish I could do things differently. I should have gone with you. I have regretted my decision every night since." He did not answer and it began to make her angry that he would not speak to her.

"How I wish you were really here." She said as she turned away from him and continued on up the stairs. "If you were real I would sing you all my songs. I realized too late that they never belonged to anyone else but you." She left him there at the bottom of the serpentine and returned to her room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note: warning for very minor thoughts of self harm in this chapter. Things start looking up for our favorite couple after this part.

She was running, it reminded her of the day Joffrey had sent the soldiers to kill her fathers men. She was fleeing with no particular destination in mind, only thinking that she had to get away. As she ran it seemed as if all the ghosts from her past were following her. There now stood Septa Mordane, looking at her sternly. She should not be running in the halls, a proper lady is always composed. There was Arya, laughing at her and trying to mess her hair as she ran past. They were lining up along the walls Jory Cassel, Jeyne Poole, Ser Dontos. And now the ghosts of those who had never even lived in the Red Keep with her. She thought perhaps these hurt the worst, her mother, Robb, Bran and little Rickon too. They all looked at her as she ran, none of them speaking, silently judging her for her sins. She stopped and closed her eyes. "Your not real. None of you are." she whispered. 

When she opened her eyes and saw where she was she began to tremble. She was high atop the castle walls along the battlements. And although the spikes were bare, she saw the heads there anyway as clear as the day that Joffrey had forced her here to look upon her father. She gazed above now and saw his face looking down at her. The first time she had barely recognized him, the tar had disfigured him, and the crows had pecked out his eyes. This time he was whole and looking down at her sadly, and his grey eyes seemed to look straight into her soul. 

She remembered that first day when she was here. She thought back to how she had wanted to push Joffrey off the wall. She was prepared to fall along with him, falling to the stone floor far below. Slowly she inched her way forward until she felt the edge of the walkway thru her dainty satin slippers. She wiggled her toes over the edge, then slowly lifted herself up, balancing on the balls of her feet, stretching her arms out to her sides. She closed her eyes and lifted her head slightly as a breeze blew her hair around her face. 

"What are you doing Little bird?" she heard the Hounds voice. He sounded concerned, which seemed odd to her. Why should a ghost care what she was doing? She didn't move. 

"I wish I truly was a bird, I would simply fly away from this place." She whispered. 

"Come back away from the edge." He growled. "Your going to fall and break your foolish neck!" 

She turned her head sharply to the side snapping her eyes open and looked at him. She lost her balance for a moment and swayed a bit before steadying herself. 

"Little Bird, please." he said reaching his hand toward her. 

She could not bare for his ghostly hands to touch her. She sank down to place her feet flat onto the ground. Looking down she was suddenly dizzy as she stumbled away from him. "Stay back!" she shouted, crouching down to the ground, placing her hands on the stones, curling her fingers around the edge. She leaned forward, looking down to the ground far below her. 

"Do you think I am going to stand here and watch you throw yourself over the edge girl?" 

"Do not call me girl. I am no longer a child, I am a woman grown." she snapped at him. "I am not going to fall. Just for a moment I wanted to feel free. Go away!" 

"I am not going to leave while you are on the edge there." She closed her eyes and tried to take comfort in the familiar rasp of his voice. 

"Why not? You left me before. Left me alone with the lions." she whispered as she felt tears in her eyes. 

"The lions are gone now." 

"Lions, Dragons, they are all the same." she stood then and took a few steps away from the edge, her hands quickly brushing the tears away from her cheeks. 

"Sansa." he said her name softly, with a sigh of relief. He reached for her again, but she pulled away quickly. She could never remember hearing him say her name before, and it sounded queer to her ears. 

"Go haunt someone else." she snapped running away from him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't spend as much time cleaning this chapter up as i usually do so i hope there is no big errors lol.
> 
> Authors note. I pictured the godswood in this scene the way it was portrayed on the show in season 3, when Sansa was with Margaery.

She was hiding in the Godswood. She had spent the night there and the whole of the new day. She knew by now her absence was noticed and there were probably people searching for her. They would not think to look for her here. Most of the castle guards were stupid and she had never been disturbed while visiting the Godswood, not even before when she had her secret meetings with Ser Dontos. 

She knelt by the stump of what used to be the heart tree and closing her eyes she took a deep breath of the fresh air. Sometimes when she was here she could smell the sea and it comforted her. Although Winterfell was no where near the sea, the simple crisp smell reminded her of home, as she remembered the fresh snow and pine smells of the North. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to see the Hound standing next to her. 

"You startled me." she scolded him. "You should have made your presence known." 

"I did not wish to interrupt your prayers." he sat down on an old crumbling stone bench and watched her for a moment. "They are looking for you Little Bird." 

"You as well?" 

"I did not have to look. I knew exactly where you would be." He attempted a small smile but his mouth twitched and he turned his head away with a growl. 

"I suppose I do not have to worry about you giving me away then." 

"And why is that?" 

"Your not real." 

He laughed at that. "I'm not real?" 

She stood and angrily brushed the dirt from her skirts. "Your a ghost. I do not know why you are haunting me. It is not my fault you are dead." she turned and sat on the tree stump where she had been praying and glared at him. 

He watched her for a few minutes quietly. "I've come to say goodbye Little bird." he finally said. 

She turned to look away from him, looking out to the sea. "You are not going to haunt me anymore then?" 

He stood up. "I should not have come here tonight. I think my being here is upsetting you. I never wanted to return to Kings Landing. My business is done and I am leaving in the morning." he watched her for a moment before turning to walk away. 

She started to watched him go, but suddenly stood and ran after him beginning to cry. "Please, wait." she sobbed. He stopped and turned to look at her. "I don't know why your leaving, but please stay. I can not bear it if you leave me again. I know your not real and I am being foolish but please stay with me." She felt light headed and stumbled falling down to the ground. 

"Little Bird." he whispered as he crouched down next to her. "Why do you think that I am not real." 

"Your dead. You are just another ghost that is haunting me." she buried her face in her hands as she sobbed. Suddenly she felt the warmth of his large hands on her shoulders. 

"Look at me Little Bird." he pulled her hands away from her face. He took his hand and placed it under her chin and tilted her face, touching her more gently that he ever had before. "Sansa, look at me, I'm not dead." 

She cried harder and threw her arms around him. He hesitated for a moment, clearly surprised before pulling her closer and holding her. She held her head to his chest and listened for his heart beat. She smiled as she felt the warmth from his body, and the rise and fall of his chest as he took a few deep breaths. 

"Did you come back for me?" she whispered relaxing her grip on him and looking up to face him. 

He pulled away from her and rubbed his face with his hand. "I confess I had no idea you were even here. I have been living with a group of Sworn brothers for the last few years. The elder brother has been writing to the Imp on my behalf trying to clear my name of the Saltpans massacre. I had to come back to Kings Landing for my pardon." 

"Your a sworn brother now?" she questioned. 

"I have never taken vows. I was injured and dying. The elder Brother found me and nursed me back to health. While I was healing someone stole my helm and burned Saltpans. After that I had no where to go so I simply stayed." 

"I never believed it when my Father said you did those things." she smiled at him. 

"Your Father?" he questioned. 

Looking down embarrassed she began to play with a ribbon on her dress. "I mean Lord Baelish. For a few years he hid me away in the Eyrie as his daughter Alayne. Sometimes I forget I am Sansa again." 

"And now you have come back here to be reunited with your husband?" He seemed to choke on the last word. 

"Tyrion has been kind to me, and has agreed to release me from our union. We were never husband and wife for true and he has set me aside." She felt her cheeks grow warm as she blushed. "I remain a maid." 

After a moment he laid his hand gently on her back. "Why are you hiding out here Little Bird?" 

She reached into her bodice and pulled out the bit of parchment she had hidden away there. "I wrote to my brother Jon. I asked if he could find a place for me there in the North with him." 

"You want to freeze your ass off at the Wall with a bunch of crows?" 

Quickly she tucked the letter back away. "It does not matter. His answer was no. He said it would not be safe for me there. Something about wildlings and the color of my hair, and more rubbish about White walkers and war." 

He looked away from her. "I am sure the Imp will find some comely Lord for you to marry soon." 

She trembled. "Lord Manderly has made an offer for one of his sons." 

"Lord 'Too fat to sit a horse'? Surely they can find you someone better than that?" he laughed. 

She shook her head. "There has been no one else. I will get to go back north, and finally be away from here. I do not wish to marry him. I wish I could just run away, across the sea, Pentos perhaps, or somewhere I could be free." She shivered as the wind picked up. The sun was setting and the evening was growing colder. 

"You should have worn a cloak" he scolded her, standing up. She struggled to stand but she suddenly felt light headed again so she reached out to steady herself against him. "How long have you been out here Little Bird?" he questioned. 

"Since I spoke with you on the battlements." 

"Seven Hells girl, you were out here all night! When was the last time you ate something or slept?" 

She shook her head, suddenly feeling very ill. "I do not remember." She sank down to sit on the ground again. 

He bent down and scooped her up in his strong arms and carried her back to the Red Keep. She knew she was safe in his arms and relaxed, resting her head against his chest. The soft swaying motion of his steps made her sleepy and she felt her eyes start to grow heavy. She did not remember falling asleep but when she awoke she was back in her rooms. Lord Tyrion came and chastised her for making everyone worry. She looked around the room for the Hound but he was no where to be found.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> had trouble wrapping this story up, i didnt want it to drag on. Hope this ending is ok, :) enjoy.

She was in her bed sleeping when suddenly she was startled awake. Sitting up she looked around the darkness of her room. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the Hound sitting on the foot of her bed. 

They sat there in silence for awhile. Finally he spoke to her. "I am thinking of traveling across the sea. Look for work in one of the sellsword companies. Second sons, or the Golden Company perhaps." he sighed and stood up. 

"I was going to just leave. Get on my horse and ride away from this damned place. Never look back." He began to pace back and forth thru the room as he talked, never looking at her. 

"I don't know why I came here tonight. I guess I just wanted to see you one last time." he stopped at the side of her bed and reaching down he tugged on a lock of her hair. After a moment he pulled his hand away quickly almost as if he had been burned. 

"Goodbye Little Bird." he said softly, before quickly leaving the room. She wanted to call out to him, but the words all caught in her throat. 

She sat there in the darkness for a few minutes, her arms wrapped tight around her as grief threatened to overwhelm her. As the first rays of sunlight began to peek above the horizon she suddenly leapt from her bed and hurried around the room, grabbing her few possessions and stuffing them in a bag. She dressed quickly in a plain dress and pulled on her riding boots. Wrapping her cloak around her shoulders she ran from the room. 

Faster and faster she ran, thru the halls of the Red keep. The clicking of her boots echoing off of the walls as she hurried thru the empty halls. Down stairs and thru doorways she flew. She began to get a cramp in her side and was out of breath but she continued, never stopping until she arrived at her destination. The stables. 

She stopped and held her side, trying to catch her breath. She looked around frantically for the Hound. She hurried thru the stables looking in stalls, but seeing no one other than a few sleepy stable boys just arriving to tend to the horses. 

Sadly she left the stable, and stood in the middle of the yard. She began to fear that she was too late when suddenly she saw him. He was standing next to a huge black horse, a small pile of supplies on the ground next to him that he was carefully loading into saddle bags. She slowly approached him, suddenly apprehensive. 

He saw her and stopped his task suddenly and looked at her for a moment, his eyes going to the bag she held in her hands before turning away back to his horse. They stood there in silence while he finished loading his belongings onto the horse. "Have you thought about everything you would be giving up?" he growled turning back to face her. 

"I am only thinking of everything I will gain." 

He grabbed her arms tightly and snarled, reminding her of the old days when he would try and frighten her. "I have nothing to offer you. What could you possibly gain by coming with me?" 

"Everything." She stood on her toes then and leaned up, kissing him lightly on the lips. 

He released her and quickly stepped away. "You haven't thought this thru girl." 

"I have thought about it. I have spent years thinking about it. I have been given a second chance and this time I am going with you." 

"What about your marriage to Lord Manderlys son?" 

"I never accepted his offer." 

"Running away with me will surely ruin any future marriage proposals." He turned back to his horse and adjusted some straps on the saddle bags. 

Taking a deep breath, and summoning all her courage, she laid her hand on his arm. "I had thought that perhaps I could marry you." 

He barked out a laugh. "You don't need to sell yourself to me. I would be a poor husband. Wouldn't know what to do with a dainty little bird." 

She pulled her hand away from his arm and dropped her bag to the ground. She backed away from him. She had been so sure that he wanted her. She wanted to run away from him but she was suddenly frozen in place. 

Finally he turned back and looked at her. "You wanted to go home. I'm not going North. I am taking supplies to the Quiet Isle then from there I am heading across the sea." 

"I don't care about going north, I only want to be with you." she whispered. 

He stared at her for a long time. Finally he bent down out and picked up her bag. Silently he added it to the other things packed with the horse. 

"Are you sure?" he asked. 

"I made my choice a long time ago." she whispered. He reached down and brushed away a tear from her cheek she hadn't realized was there. Leaning forward he kissed her softly before placing his hands on her sides and lifting her gently up on his horse. He swung up to sit behind her. 

As they rode thru the city her heart began to race. She expected someone to stop them any moment but no one spared them a second glance. As they approached the gates he slowed his horse to a stop. "You can still change your mind Little Bird." he whispered. 

She turned to look up at him. "Never." He leaned toward her and kissed her, a much deeper and more passionate kiss than the chaste one he had given her earlier. After a moment he finally pulled away. She smiled at him. After a moment he smiled back at her as they finally rode thru the gates and left Kings Landing behind forever.


End file.
